Working with a team
by Cosmic Humor
Summary: Sequel to Make You Happy. Jake's the B.S.A.A.'s newest member but he's still got a lot of learning to do before he can be a real member of the team. And it doesn't help that his past continues to haunt him, or that a certain girl will occasionally bounce in and out of his life.
1. Chapter 1

Jake wasn't completely human. He was faster, he was stronger, and he was tougher than your average human being. He never really had to work out or worry about what he ate, and he could smoke and drink to his heart's desire without having to worry about his body being affected. He was practically the Nietzscheian dream of physicality.

Why couldn't he beat Redfield, then?

He pumped his fists towards Chris' face as quickly as he could, but Chris moved gracefully between each blow and even managed to respond with a blow of his own, nowhere near as strong as Jake's but -as Jake would soon learn- a well-placed blow to the solar plexus didn't need much strength to it. Jake staggered back a few steps as Chris followed with a solid uppercut that took Jake completely off-balance. Jake moved back as quickly as he could to keep Chris from closing the distance and throwing him off balance.

When Chris finally closed in, Jake had regained his balance and caught Chris' oncoming fist and followed by attempting to grapple his arm, but Chris was far more agile than those muscles implied. With a turn and a twist of his arm, Jake went flying over Chris and landed flat on his ass on the floor.

"One more round." Jake said.

"Tomorrow." Chris said, leaning down to offer Jake a hand. "In fact tomorrow, you're switching teachers."

Jake, being Jake refused the hand and decided to get up himself. "Switching teachers?" Jake said. "Looks to me like you can deal with a few more fights with me."

"It's not that." Chris said. "I think I've been going to easy on you. I haven't been pushing your limits enough. You need someone who can push you to your limits, force you to actually apply all those lessons I've been trying to push into you."

"So this guy..." Jake asked. "He's better than you."

"Sure is." Chris said. "And _she'll _be here to show you a few pointers tomorrow. But for now, let's hit the bar."

.-

If Jake had ever said he liked Chris Redfield it would be a lie big enough to start another zombie outbreak. He was a whitebread moralizer, drank the shittiest pale-ass American beers, and would not fucking shut up about Captain America. (Redfield kept insisting that Jake 'had to read the Brubaker stories!' whatever that meant. Jake somehow found equal parts annoying and boring as mayonnaise.

Redfield -was- a good dude though. He was honest, straightforward... he only wanted to help people.

Plus he paid for drinks.

And so they came pretty late to the B.S.A.A.-funded bunks singing Beatles songs a bit too loudly as they went to their own rooms. B.S.A.A. rooms were nice. Not exactly hotel rooms, but good mattresses and a nice walls. Jake tried to stay awake most of the time and refrain from falling asleep just to enjoy one of the nicer rooms he was now regularly sleeping in.

There was another reason he hated sleeping though.

Because when he did, he dreamed about her.

Jake tried his hardest not to think about Sherry Birkin. It should have been easy. After all, it had been months since they last spoke. Sure enough though, every time his head hit the pillow there she was. She was there. Sometimes she was wearing nothing and they shared a bed. More curiously, sometimes she was fully clothed and they were doing the most fucking normal things. Getting food, watching TV, cleaning guns. Those kind of dreams pissed him off the most. He didn't know what that shit was like. Why did he dream about that?

Maybe it was because it was the kind of life he wanted. The kind of person he wanted to be? It was a painful truth that as he was he could not be the kind of man that could or would make Sherry happy. He could punch out monsters and keep her safe during snowmobile chases, but he couldn't be the man to stay.

Girls didn't go home with the badass, they went home with the guy who stayed around when the fighting was done. Jake was the kind of guy who went looking for another fight afterwards. That wasn't the kind of guy Sherry needed. She had more than enough fights.

Jake finally fell asleep. And he dreamed more than he wanted to.

.-

"I don't like this, Chris." Jill said, looking her boyfriend in the eye. "Do you know who that is that you're training?"

"A lost kid." Chris said. "Somebody who needs as much help as possible."

"That's the son of Wesker in there." Jill said, her tone serious. "He could be the person to throw this damn world into chaos again."

"Which is why he needs a guiding hand." Chris said patiently. "Rebuking him would just make him more of a wild card. Here we can watch him. Help him."

"Dammit Chris this isn't some saturday morning special!" Jill said. "Evil like that doesn't just die. It's residing in him."

"People don't just start out evil, Jill." Chris protested. "Other people make them that way."

"Wesker made him." Jill said.

"Not in any way that's important." Chris sighed. "I know how you feel but-"

Jill was out of her seat and had grabbed him by the collar. "No you don't!" she snarled. "You don't have any idea... any idea what he did... what he made me do!"

Chris looked at Jill for a moment. He was stunned by her sudden outburst, but he still realized he had to tread carefully. He brought his hands up to hold hers gently.

"No... I don't." he said. "I shouldn't have said that. But listen. Jake isn't Wesker. If treat him like a ticking time bomb then that's what he'll be. We need to show him some trust."

Jill loosened her grip on Chris. "Maybe you're right." she said. Her hands fell to her sides, almost as though her shoulders had been dislocated. "But it can't be me Chris... every time I look into his eyes, every time I have to think about anyone related to that man..."

Jill hung her head, almost as though she were ashamed of herself. "I understand..." Chris said. He really did, and his voice hung with the weight of realizing his mistake. What he had asked Jill to relive. "I'm sorry. I never should have-"

"No, it's alright." Jill interrupted. She looked up at Chris and gave him a peck on the cheek. "You couldn't have known. You wanted to help him. I wish you thought through better, but..." she paused. It would have been better if she had kept screaming at him, slapped him... it would have been more like Jill to do that.

Chris had never thought of the way it had affected him. God, how awful was he?

"I should have thought..." Chris said. "God, Jill... I'm so sorry. If you ever need anything... any help..."

"Ease up there, Redfield." she said. "We both know you're no psychiatrist. Don't worry. I'll figure this out."

"I just want you to know I'm always here for you." he said.

"Of course you are." she said. "Chris you've literally saved my life before. A few stupid things are never going to change you, and it certainly won't change the fact that I love you." She tightened her hug a bit. "You're a good man."

"And an idiot."

"Definitely." she said. "My idiot though."

Chris sighed. "I guess I need to figure out a plan B."

Jill gave a mock-disappointed sigh. "It's going to be a little cold without you."

Chris gave a small smile. "It can wait until morning."

.-

Leon had one question for the caller ."How did you get my number?"

"Claire gave it to me." Chris explained and immediately followed with. "Don't hang up yet!"

Chris and Leon were anything but friends. The last time they had met face-to-face they had guns pulled on each other. "I'm guessing this isn't a social call."

"I've got a trainee who needs some serious showing of the ropes." Chris explained."I figure he'd handle a more casual touch better."

"I'm kind of busy at the moment." Leon said. "I've got a case coming up and I can't really take time off to train greenhorns."

"Don't worry." Chris answered. "This guy's seen action. He might even be able to help you, since you've worked before."

"I doubt it." Leon says. "I don't work with partners very often, and I doubt he had the tits the last one did."

"You don't remember a guy from China?" asked Chris. "Buzz cut, nasty attitude, was dragging around a tiny blonde."

There was a pause on the phone. "Muller's joined the B.S.A.A.?"

"I know. I was shocked too." Chris said. "But ever since the Estonia incident we've been seriously understaffed and he's someone we could use. And I imagine whatever job you've got planned probably could use a B.S.A.A. liason."

Leon swore underneath his breath. "What's the real reason you're asking this, Redfield?"

"None honestly." Chris said. "The kid needs help. And I'm not exactly the fatherly type-"

"And I am?" Leon answered.

"No, but he'll respond better to you than..." Chris paused. "Than the man who killed his father."

Leon sighed. "Tell you what. You get the paperwork through, I'll help junior get his ears wet."

"Great." Chris said. "No need for kid gloves. Throw him in the deep end?"

"Redfield, not only is it always the deep end with us," Leon responded. "It's a freaking high dive."


	2. Chapter 2

**Six Months Ago**

"That's the end of your report, Officer Birkin?"

"Yes, sir."

Sherry didn't know the name of the official. He was some office agent that outranked her. He smelled unpleasantly of cigars and looked a bit like a fatter version of Richard Nixon. Sherry stood still and tried to ignore both of those facts. "Yes sir." she said. "We used his blood as a vaccine and have been distributing it throughout high threat areas."

"And the Wesker boy?" asked the officer.

"Once he finished speaking with the doctors he left. He didn't have any other business with us." she explained. "He collected his payment and left."

The man nodded. "So you let the son of one of the most famous terrorists in the world simply walk out of the building."

Sherry paused for a moment. Was she really being asked this. "It wasn't my call to make. Besides I don't see how his relationship is relevant. Jake Muller had nothing to-"

"He is still carrying the contagion in him, isn't he?" asked the agent.

Sherry paused. So that's what this was about. "Yes." she said. "It's an inherent part of his DNA. If you've read the report you should know that."

"And you let someone with an important ingredient to both creating and dispersing the menace of bioterrorism simply walk out of our facilities?"

"He's a human being not a flash drive!" Sherry said. "Besides he has never engaged in an act of bioterrorism! We've no reason to believe that he would ever agree to any such activities!"

"If I recall correctly." the agent responded, looking through her report. "You said that he almost shot Chris Redfield over a vendetta concerning the death of his father."

"Yes but he ended up helping Redfield." Sherry said. "There were extreme circumstances and-"

"-and what is to keep extreme circumstances from happening again?" he interrupted. "And even excusing that, were not both he and you compromised for several months? What is to keep that from happening again?"

"Are you saying that we should have sacrificed the liberty of a human being because something bad _might_ happen?!" Sherry said. "We're the United States! We can't just lock up a man because of who his father was!"

"For god's sake Agent Birkin, sit down!" Sherry hadn't realized she was standing. She quickly sat down. "Don't be so naïve. We can't expect to prioritize the rights of one man, one -non-American- over the safety of our countries."

"So I was supposed to lock up a foreigner just because of our government's fears?" Sherry asked.

"No one said anything about forcing him." the agent responded. "There are other means."

"And how exactly was I supposed to-" she stopped as she saw the condescending expression on the agen'ts face. "With all due respect sir, I am neither a spy nor a prostitute. Nowhere does seducing anyone come into my field of skills."

The agent gave her a skeptical look before finally saying. "You're dismissed."

Sherry couldn't get out of their fast enough.

.-

**Now.**

It was good to see Claire again. Between all the chaos going on with her jobs, she rarely had any time for friends anymore. When they had time, they would spend time drinking at a small quite restaurant in south D.C. Claire was a significantly heavier drinker

"You've been busy." were Claire's first words.

"You have no idea." Sherry said. "I used to envy you and Leon. I always wanted to go on wild adventures. Now I just want some time to rest."

Claire smiled. "I guess the grass is always greener. I'm missing a bit of the thrill... and other things."

"Leon's been busy?" Sherry asked.

"Exceedingly. And whenever he's not he's mostly mopey and listening to his Meatloaf albums." Clair sighed. "Can you believe he still collects vinyl?" Claire gave another frustrated sigh. "He always gets like this whenever he meets her again."

Sherry knew exactly who Claire meant. Ada Wong, one of the world's most wanted, a high-level spy and mercenary, and for some reason the love of Leon's life. Leon had a habit of attracting women to him, but Ada was the one he had always focused on.

"You know, I always thought you and Leon would end up together." Sherry said. "I dunno, probably a silly girl seeing her rescuers as the king and queen or something."

Claire shrugged. "I've always known that wouldn't happen. Leon is one of my best friends and there were times both of us thought about it, but in the end it couldn't work out."

"Because of his obsession with Wong?" asked Sherry.

"That's part of it, yeah. I always thought he'd grow out of that, though." Claire said."No, it's just a symptom of a greater problem. He can't let go of anything. Whenever something goes wrong he agonizes over whether he could have done something differently. It's frustrating whenever -she- gets involved, let me tell you. What does he think is going to happen with her anyways? She forsakes her life of crime, marries him, and they have kids? Not with that woman."

"So what's your guess on how the Ada-Leon relationship plays out?" Sherry said. "If you were to guess?"

"If I were to guess..." Claire said. "If I were to guess, I'd say it ends in tragedy. There'll be this one time when Ada gets in too far. She usually gets away with it just by the skin of her teeth but this time she'll get in too far. Of course Leon will be there. He'll go to rescue her as soon as he can, that freaking Dulcinea syndrome of his working overtime. He won't make it though. Maybe it'll be a zombie attack. Maybe it'll be some giant zombie truck or something. Maybe it'll be something we've never seen before. Either way, Leon will get there too late. He'll see her die, and he'll spend the rest of his life wondering what he could have done different."

"But it wouldn't be about him..." Sherry said. She took a rather deep sip of her own drink, and then finished. Her voice sounded tired. "Ada Wong would have destroyed herself no matter what Leon does and the only thing he could do that's sensible is to disconnect himself."

"Exactly." Claire said.

Sherry sighed. "But he won't do that. He's in love."

"Probably not." Claire agreed in a voice that said she hoped against hope that he actually would. She took another heavy swig of her drink. "I'm tired of navel gazing, though. There's another reason I asked you here. How would you like to get away from that desk?"

"You have field work for me?" Sherry asked. She hadn't done field work since...

since the last time she had seen Jake. There was a twinge of pain in her at the thought of Jake. Jake wasn't a reliable person. He was cocky, arrogant, selfish, annyoingly smarmy, and all too absorbed in himself and his tragedy. He wasn't what you could exactly call a good person. He was a mercenary, after all.

But he was also one of the bravest men Sherry had ever met. Not to mention good-looking. The genetics of Albert Wesker had served him well, and while she'd never admit to anyone but herself she held the image of seeing him shirtless rather closely. In their time together, they had developed some inexplicable relationship. Jake had told Sherry that she had saved him. And then later, Jake had told her that he wanted to make her happy.

And admitted that he couldn't.

Maybe Jake was Sherry's very own Ada Wong.

Sherry shook her out of it. "Uh, sure. What's the assignment?"

"Deep cover." Claire explained. "We'll be going into Germany. Former Umbrella research labs. There's some suspicion that Neo-Umbrella got its resources for the gas virus there. We need to get them long before anyone else can or else we might be looking at the episode we had before all over again."

"I'm not really a Black Ops operative though." said Sherry.

"You've got more experience than most C.I.A. agents that have been at the game for decades with this stuff." Claire responded. "Besides that healing factor of yours would help out, Miss Wolverine."

"So we're putting together the X-men now?" Sherry asked.

"More like a magnificent seven minus four." Claire said. "I've already gotten agreement with Agent Alomar. She's the B.S.A.A. agent that worked with Chris during the Tricell incident in Africa."

Where Wesker had died. Where Chris had killed him.

Which was what made Jake point a gun at Chris' head.

God, Sherry's life was one big soap opera wasn't it?

"So three women going black ops into Germany?" asked Sherry. "Sounds like a regular girl's night out."

"So I take it that you're in?"

Sherry nodded. "I need to get my mind off of things, and the D.S.O. would want an official on this."

"Sounds great." Claire said. "We leave tomorrow."

"What, tomorrow?" Sherry responded. "That's a little fast."

"Still up for it?" Claire asked.

Sherry nodded. "Of course. Anything for you, Claire."

"Fantastic." Claire put her beer forward. "To the mission?"

"To the mission." Sherry agreed.

And they clinked their glasses together.


End file.
